19 Sunday/Ordinary, Aug. 9, 2020
Written by Fr. Fitz Thursday, 06 August 2020 09:02
Today in the Gospel, Jeus walks on troubled waters.
We all are on troubled waters, are we not?
3 stories to lift up your heart in these troubled days:
My classmate lost his wife who married another after 53Â years together!
He has suffered a brain tumor and more recently an ear tumor. So he is now totally deaf. When I talk to him my voice goes through a machine which prints my words on his screen.
He then verbally responds.
WHENÂ I ASKED HIM HOW HE GETS THROUGH HIS DAYS:
HE LAUGHED.
"Oh, I keep busy just emptying my colostomy bag four times a day!"
He lives alone. He Never complains.
No bitterness. No self pity.
He always sends his former wife a Mother's Day card.
Of such stuff heroes are made.
Story 2: Our Gardener here lost his house and all belongings including his car destroyed by fire.
When I reached out to some of my friends on his behalf, they all responded. One sent me a check for $4000!
Story 3:
Another Gardener here labored here for 26 years. He went on vacation and caught the virus and died.
So I presided at a Memorial on our Parking Lot. There were umbrellas, masks and spacing. In the terrific heat here, an overflow crowd turned up to honor him.
Remember the song, "Bridge Over Troubled Waters?
That is what we are meant to be for one another.
Aug. 7, I turn 88. I give thanks to my parents Bill nd Kitty Fitzgerald for giving me life during troubled times-the Depresion. The next year my sister Mary Rose was born, but she did not survive. I am grateful for the gift of life.